diff --git a/tests/golden/pull2140.tsv b/tests/golden/pull2140.tsv
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4c5641188
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/golden/pull2140.tsv
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+name	rows	cols	id	classes
+table_0	0	0		test_empty
+links	0	5		
diff --git a/tests/pull2140.vdj b/tests/pull2140.vdj
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b20a78d04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/pull2140.vdj
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#!vd -p
+{"sheet": null, "col": null, "row": null, "longname": "open-file", "input": "sample_data/empty-table.html", "keystrokes": "o", "comment": null}
diff --git a/visidata/loaders/html.py b/visidata/loaders/html.py
index 509727f41..a950dea18 100644
--- a/visidata/loaders/html.py
+++ b/visidata/loaders/html.py
@@ -154,8 +154,11 @@ def iterload(self):
         if headers:
             it = itertools.zip_longest(*headers, fillvalue='')
         else:
-            it = list(list(x) for x in self.rows.pop(0))
-            it += [''] * (ncols-len(it))
+            if len(self.rows) > 0:
+                it = list(list(x) for x in self.rows.pop(0))
+                it += [''] * (ncols-len(it))
+            else:
+                it = []
 
         for colnum, names in enumerate(it):
             name = '_'.join(str(x) for x in names if x)